The Coughlan OF THE WALK
Irish actress takes centre stage in new Bridgerton season… By Keeley Ryan
The return of Bridgerton is just around the corner — and this time around, there’s a new pairing who are going to be the talk of the ton. The regency era series returns to Net ix for part one on May 16, with part two arriving on the streamer on June 13. And it’s Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton — played by Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton — who are at the centre of this year’s story.
Showrunner Jess Brownell opened up about the dynamic between Penelope and Colin, noting while the two of them have been in the ‘friend zone’ for the last two seasons things begin on a very different note this year.
She continued,“at the start of this season, they’re not really even in the friend zone.
“For Pen, Colin’s in the ‘you’re dead to me’ zone, in a way. And I think that’s where the seeds are planted for their relationship to change.
“Pen has always been there for Colin, and I think he’s taken that for granted.
“So when there’s this moment where she might not be there all the time, it sends him spinning a bit, and makes him realise that he’s got to do more to earn her.”
And the showrunner explained the differences in the dynamic between Penelope and Colin, compared to the other central romantic dynamics from past seasons.
She said,“besides the fact that this is the rst time we’ve really done a ‘friends to lovers’ arc, I think Colin and Penelope are characters who are not used to being in the center of things.
“They have both been underdogs in many ways.you have Pen who’s been a real wall ower, and Colin who, as the third sibling in the Bridgerton family, has taken some time to get to know himself.
“And so it was really fun to bring these two out into the centre, and it does give it a different sense than it has in previous seasons.”
Nicola told how it was a“bit terrifying”to come back for season three“knowing that the story is your love story”.
She said,“finding out during Season Two gave me that year to prepare mentally, but it was scary and intimidating and really exciting all at the same time.”
Luke added,“coming back for Season Three is something that I’ve looked forward to for a really long time, but also didn’t expect it to be this soon, if that makes sense.
“When Nicola and I found out that we were going to be at the forefront of Season Three, we were so excited.
“And then when we read the rst couple of scripts, we were blown away. It’s been a mad journey so far.”
Nicola told how when the season begins, Penelope comes back to the ton with a“new attitude”.
She said, “She’s very purposedriven at the beginning of the season, when she realizes that if she doesn’t marry, she is stuck in the house, which will be run by one of her sisters, and she’ll be henpecked by her mum forever.
“She’s like, ‘I can’t do this. I need to get a husband,’ so she’s decided she’s going to grow up, she’s going to do this, she’s going to get a husband, she’s not involved with the Bridgertons anymore, she’s on her own path.”
And the Galway native told how stepping out of Penelope’s comfort zone was an exciting prospect. She said,“i think she’s a character who, having played her from this young girl in the beginning, into this reluctant debutante, into what she thought was this clever businesswoman in the second season.
“This season she is facing who she actually is, and all the uncomfortable truths that come with that, in lots
of different ways.”
Nicola told how Penelope is a“true romantic”at heart — but at the start of the season, she feels it is“all pointless”.
She said,“she’s been in love with this guy who doesn’t love her back, and slagged her off, so she’s trying to forget about all of that.
“She needs someone who’s nice to her, and who won’t annoy her — that’s about all she’s looking for.
“Lady Danbury always hosts the rst ball of the season, so Penelope goes and presents herself to the world as this ‘new me,’ and tries to irt with men, and realises that she cannot do that, has never done that, and has no ability to do that.
“And that sends her twenty steps back, it’s just humiliating.
“But it was fun to play. I really loved that side of the season; getting to play the humorous side to her, because I always feel she’s going through so much stuff — with Marina and her dad and Colin — so to actually get to play how goofy she is, and how unable she is to speak to men, was so much fun.”
Luke and Nicola also opened up about what it is like playing out the evolution of the relationship between Penelope and Colin, and bringing it from friendship to romance.
Nicola said,“we both so believe in their love story that we really are invested in it. It’s been nice — but Colin has to have moments in this season when he’s really sad that Penelope is getting attention from other men, and I went, ‘Yeah, it doesn’t feel nice, does it?’
“I spent two years standing across from him in ballrooms being like, ‘I’m so sad, he’s dancing with Cressida.’
“In the beginning, when we had to shoot our rst romantic scene where I sort of became mesmerised by his eyes, we had the worst t of giggles in the world, and it just became more and more ridiculous as it went on. I couldn’t look at him.
“We’ve taken it really gradually, and I think one of the most important things with anyone you are acting with is just trust. Luke and I have really deep trust in one another, and that has made this the best experience.”
Luke added,“from day one, Nicola and I knew this would be a possibility, that our characters might eventually get to showcase their love story, and we were always excited about that transition.
“We were excited to see how the show would be written; how we would turn our book into a story for the show.
“It’s been really fun to change the dynamics of Colin and Penelope’s relationship. Working with Nic has been so cool because we’ve known each other for years.
“We can just kind of laugh and play around a little bit. And when we need to, we will support each other in the moments that feel really vulnerable.
“It’s nice that we had this time to build our friendship before our season, so we’ve got each other’s backs when we’re on set.”
And the actor told how Colin’s struggling to nd his place in the ton and within his family this year — and how he’s“de nitely got a bit of a complex when it comes to nding his purpose”.
He said,“it’s one of the main themes for him this season. He’s struggling with growing up, getting older, and not knowing what his ‘thing’ is.
“He’s a very keen writer, but he’s insecure about whether he’s good enough to do that as a living.
“When it really comes down to it, he’s got an amazing life, he’s got an amazing family, amazing friends, he’s very, very wealthy, so he doesn’t really have any sort of drive.
“He also struggles with his place within his family, because he will never be in charge; he will never have to take any responsibility, he’s the middle child who doesn’t really know where he stands.
“He’s felt that throughout his childhood, and now it’s really gnawing at him because he wants something that he can take ownership of, something that’s his.
“And I think that’s a nice journey with Penelope; she makes him realise that he does have these really beautiful qualities, that he’s caring and he’s charming, but he doesn’t quite see that.
“He thinks that he needs more, so it’s a nice journey to see that she makes him realise that he does have a purpose, whether he thinks it or not.:
Claudia Jessie, who plays Eloise Bridgerton, opened up about how the events of last season — and her momentary romance — has shaped the character.
She said,“people have this idea of Eloise that she’s anti-love, and I think that’s misguided because love isn’t just within relationships, it’s within friendships and family and people in your community.
“She is very capable of that, and the journey with a romantic interest was more exciting in that we got to see Eloise’s version of it.
“It’s not that Eloise doesn’t do it, it’s about how she does it, in this sort of frank, ‘I think about you, do you maybe think about me?’ way.
“It was great for her to be honest and express how she felt about someone in her own way.
“You’ll see that in Season Three, and hopefully it will carry forward.
“She’s experienced these feelings, so she knows that it’s possible, she just needs to nd a way of existing that doesn’t necessarily have to slot perfectly into this template that she’s seen her siblings t into.”
Claudia also opened up about the ‘Peneloise’ situation — the aftermath of the confrontation between Penelope and Eloise at the end of last season — and where things between the two of them stand now.
She said,“before I’d seen the script for the season, I said that she wouldn’t tell anyone. I knew it, because she still wants to be a good friend, and she knows how much it would unravel.
“It’s a big can of worms. And I think it’s actually a bene t to Eloise, because hopefully she will align her morals and ideals with her actual actions, and I think it was quite easy for her to hide behind the mission of nding Lady Whistledown.
“The last person she expected was Penelope, and she was oored by it.
“That’s a bene t to her character, because hopefully she’ll have to say, ‘Okay, I don’t have that anymore. I need to actually live this, rather than just talking all the time.’
“She’s very funny, witty, sarcastic, she’s all of those things that we love, but that can’t be forever without some action, otherwise we will get sick of her just talking.
“It’s exciting to think the con ict between Penelope and Eloise will be the catalyst for her growth.”
Nicola added that in the time audiences didn’t see Penelope, she has“had time to re ect on what she did”— and opened up about where things stand between Penelope and Eloise.
She said,“in the time during which we didn’t see Penelope, she’s had time to re ect on what she did.
“I think she was so misguided in her decisions, but she’s just really deep in it, and I also think she’s a young girl, dealing with complicated things, not being able to share her secret with anybody, trying to gure it out, and then making a mess of it.
“Ultimately, she just really, truly, deeply loves Eloise, and she really knows what she’s done, she wants to make amends — but Eloise is not there in any way.
“And to see Eloise becoming friends with Cressida, this girl who has been so cruel to Penelope, it’s like a dagger to the heart, it’s so painful to her.
“But she also understands that she backed herself into this corner, and all season Penelope is really trying to just get back to a good place with Eloise. True friendships and relationships go through trials and tribulations, it doesn’t mean that it’s the end of them.”
Season three of Bridgerton begins on May 16, with part two landing on June 13.